Austintown sinkhole to be fixed soon

A sinkhole in the township on New Road, just east of Raccoon Road, received funding weeks ago and will soon be fixed.

Mahoning County Engineer Patrick T. Ginnetti said the project is valued at about $80,000, with 75 percent of funding come from the Ohio Public Works Commission’s emergency funding. The other 25 percent will be paid by Ginnetti’s office and was announced weeks ago.

“Part of the delay is whenever you are dealing with multiple funding sources, you deal with a lot paperwork,” Ginnetti said.

As far as how the sinkhole happened, Ginnetti said, “That’s one of those things where I inherited an aging infrastructure ... [it’s] been happening more and more so it’s hard to keep up with the aging infrastructure.”

The sinkhole is about 4 feet across, 20 feet long, and three-and-a-half to 4 feet deep.

The road is safe to drive on as barrels surround the sinkhole in the eastbound driving lane.

Donna McGeehen, a resident of Burkey Road, lives not too far from the sinkhole. She said, “It’s just getting gradually bigger and barrels are inside of it now.”

“Read more about the problem in Saturday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.